I want to do a fly-n-drive.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

What about a manual short-bed S10 for $1800?

John Welsh said:

As an Ohioan in the Greater Cleveland Market, some real rust belt, I wonder what you think you'll find that Texas already doesn't have to offer? 

There are a lot of old Japanese cars there, as the whole West Coast was where Japanese cars first took hold.  And they lasted a lot longer, too.

Want a vintage Toyota?  You'll probably find it in the PNW.

barefootcyborg5000 said:

Keep an eye in northern UT and Southern ID. Decent prices and selection without much in the way of rust. I'd say southern UT but section and prices are worse. 

Oh man.  A friend of mine was stationed in Idaho and found, for cheap, an IH Scout.

Scouts rusted badly because there were large portions of body that they simply failed to actually get paint on.  I also helped him build a floor for his GLH before he moved west, so he knows from rust, and he said it was rust free.

The kicker is that it had a Nissan Diesel engine in it.  Running.  I told him that a 240z perv would pay double what he paid for the truck just for the crank. Need one to make a 3.1l stroker engine.

I spent the day looking around at what's out there. California is expensive with a variety of neat stuff available. A lot of vehicles listed show significant back fees owed to the state for non registration. I'm not sure if that matters to me as a Texan. I suspect not at all. I'd just print out a temporary Texas license plate and  make my escape from California and the nice lady at the courthouse here at home would swap me a Cali title for a nice new Texas title. As far as California smog status, in Texas no worries over 25 years old, so that's not a concern.

Seattle has a good variety of cool stuff. I like old 240 Volvos. And old Toyota pickups. There's a good variety of them in Seattle.

Portland has more funky stuff and cheaper prices yet. More Volvos. Diesel Mercedes..?..(maybe ALL German cars aren't the devil, just VW)...

It seems that screwing up Honda Civics is a universal thing. E36 M3ty coilovers, shady engine swap and gutted interiors are universal in all locales I searched.

Utah is expensive. Some neat stuff but expensive. Same with Nevada and Arizona.

Florida seems to have relatively  few pickins'. I had some image of old retirees and pawpaw cars everywhere. Apparently not the case. Volvo wagon in Florida huh < @stampie > ? Been sitting a while ?

The S10 in Biloxi looks like something with potential. I'd probably do a low key parking lot build on it in my hotel lot.  It needs several cans of fresh primer and a bunch of cleanup. I'd be hitting Craigslist and Facebook all the way home trying to find a set of wheels and tires. Someone asked what my budget is. I don't know. Not enough to buy a Boxter. I'd rather buy a hunk of E36 M3 and spend my money fixing it up as I went on the trip home. Work a few hours each night in the hotel parking lot doing cleaning and maintenance. 

The more I'm thinking about it I have come to realize that those of you who mentioned it are right, I need to line something up ahead of time and not just land in a strange town and roll the dice hoping to connect with someone and not get screwed around and my time wasted trying to meet up and look at different vehicles.

I've had visions of getting a nice old one and driving back to Chicago.   I've done Route 66 but would go again and veer off.

If you find something in NC, there are several of us GRM-ers in the area for any assistance needed.

Looking forward to seeing what you buy and following the journey. When prices come back down, I'd like to do something similar with a buddy along for the adventure.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

Here's pictures I took a few months back. My gut said sub $1k.

If you come to get it I'll throw in my manual pedal cluster as a welcome to Florida gift. 

In reply to Stampie :

So that car has been sitting there like that for an extended period of time ? My warning bells are going off. I can smell the old fuel from here in Texas. Gas tank full of barnacles. Fuel pump varnished up. Seems pretty ambitious for a fly n drive candidate. Am I off base ?

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

No you're not off base but you were asking for an adventure.  What could go wrong?  Give me the word and I'll at least do a fly by and make sure it's still there.

Edit - I'll let the other Florida folks check my math but that level of exterior patina looks to be about 2 years to me.

eastsideTim said:

I thought California was pretty good for 80's vehicles that would be cost prohibitive to make pass a smog check?

Came here to say this.  This was true when I lived there in 2001-2007.  There were also a bazillion 1950s-1970s cars that were stoopid cheap.  I had 9 cars that I bought when I was there for no more than $500 and all of them ran.

I have no idea what happened to the market since then, but it was survivor-car paradise out there.  Don't be afraid of NV, AZ and NM either.  It always takes me a few extra days to cross those states because I'm always stopping to look at some rust-free gem from the 40s - 60s

If needed you can take the train between Seattle and Portland if needed. Drops off in downtown for both cities and only a little slower than driving (and super comfortable and cheap).

If you don't mind sun scorched I'd also look at Tucson and Phoenix. because desert is generally lack of rust, but be more aware of dry rotted hoses and plastics.

In reply to John Welsh :

Texas is only good for old American stuff. Foreign cars are usually trashed lol. 

Also, y'all should post links of what y'all find. Please, thanks. 

expand search to Montana and Idaho

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

expand search to Montana and Idaho

Idaho has some gems, (see what I did there?) but it's just in specific categories. 

Up north here full sized work truck were cheap as hell forever, until last year where they went up 8 fold. Rangers and s10s never really went as high but now because of gas prices they have gone higher.

I can definitely look for square body s10s though but I'll need a budget

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I can definitely look for square body s10s though but I'll need a budget

 3-4k for a worthy truck. Regular cab. Short bed.  I want to at least turn the key and leave town. If I'm stopping for tires down the road or doing brakes in the motel parking lot that's no big deal. Really prefer a standard trans for reliability. That's not an absolute though. A 4.3/auto truck would be sweet too. 

Before I was a fireman I spent years as a mechanic for the Post Office fixing LLVs. Those trucks are just S10s with Grumman bodies. I was a road mechanic and fixed them on the side of the road if possible. Nothing on an S10 scares me. 

To give some examples of truck pricing here:

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I can definitely look for square body s10s though but I'll need a budget

 3-4k for a worthy truck. Regular cab. Short bed.  I want to at least turn the key and leave town. If I'm stopping for tires down the road or doing brakes in the motel parking lot that's no big deal. Really prefer a standard trans for reliability. That's not an absolute though. A 4.3/auto truck would be sweet too. 

Hilariously I posted one while you were typing apparently lol

Here's the link to the S10 so you can look yourself

https://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/d/richland-1993-chevy-s10-shortbed-2wd-v6/7461333590.html

Way more of a project and an extra cab but half the price, these people are super super meticulous about telling you what's wrong with the car.

https://spokane.craigslist.org/ctd/d/spokane-1991-chevrolet-chevy-s10-pickup/7455516650.html

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

Now that's a neat resource. A place like that would be ideal. The S10 is apparently already gone though. But I mean the principal. I'm checking out their website. They have set hours that they're open every day. And I could buy a car there and not worry about flying half way across the country and all of the sudden having a title problem or something shady like that. 

I have bad vibes about flying across the country based on a CL or FB ad, and then taking an uber to some dudes house that I do not know. Then come to find out he got thrown in jail last night, the dog ate the title, methhead neighbor stole the keys or any other sorts of bullE36 M3 that people pull. 

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :

Now that's a neat resource. A place like that would be ideal. The S10 is apparently already gone though. But I mean the principal. I'm checking out their website. They have set hours that they're open every day. And I could buy a car there and not worry about flying half way across the country and all of the sudden having a title problem or something shady like that. 

I have bad vibes about flying across the country based on a CL or FB ad, and then taking an uber to some dudes house that I do not know. Then come to find out he got thrown in jail last night, the dog ate the title, methhead neighbor stole the keys or any other sorts of bullE36 M3 that people pull. 

I really like them and have stopped by there a few times. Once I was looking at a work van there and after finding out that home was far away he told me not to buy it, don't even look at it.

I still looked at it because I'm not used to that from a salesman and he was totally right. Every other car I've looked at they pull out a file and tell me what their mechanics found, what has been fixed and what they recommend. The mechanics there seem decent and really nothing they've said has been off. It's all donated cars too so a lot of the time they don't have much money into them.

Also if you remember the SEMA Dodge Rampage with the engine in the bed, it came from there and they flew and drove to get it. I actually looked at it and the wife hated it because it was brown on brown lol

I did a fly and drive and only felt comfortable because it was someone on here, Robert made the whole thing very easy.

I'm gonna haunt their website daily and see what pops up. I'd imagine I could set something up logistically with them as far as making a deposit and having them park it on the back of the lot till I could get there.

I agree about doing business with someone from here. No sweat. Let me send you money. I'll be there on a certain date and time and we will close the deal. I've been watching these forums pretty close to see if anything viable pops up for sale from any member here. It doesn't have to be an S10. I just want an adventure.

Wish I had something to sell you just for the opportunity to meet you.

But I will say that if you find something in NC, I'll gladly offer my shop and tools to make any needed repairs before you head out on the drive back home.

And there are several of us NC guys that could put eyes on something if you find a possible candidate.